A 43-year-old married man, who works in the film industry, from Maharashtra's Palghar district allegedly killed his live-in partner after she filed a rape complaint against him, police said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred between August 9 and 12. The body of the 28-year-old victim, a make-up artist, was found packed in a suitcase in a creek at Valsad in neighbouring Gujarat.
The police in Valsad had registered an ADR (Accidental Death Report) and cremated the body as no one came forward to claim it, an official said.
As per the preliminary investigation, after killing the woman by drowning her, the body was packed in a suitcase before it was dumped in the creek.
The accused, a resident of Vasai city, was arrested on Tuesday, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Padmaja Bade.
The victim's family filed a missing person's complaint with the Naigaon police on August 14, an official said.
A preliminary probe revealed the accused was angry as the victim had filed a rape complaint based on which a criminal case was registered against him, Bade said.
The woman had refused to withdraw the complaint, hence the man allegedly killed her.
The Naigaon police registered an FIR against the accused on Monday under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201(causing disappearance of evidence of offence) following a complaint by the victim's sister, she said.
Notably, an abetment to suicide case was lodged against the man at another police station in Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar police limits, the official said without elaborating.
"The victim worked as a makeup artist while the accused is in the film industry," the official said but refused to divulge details.
The role of the wife of the accused in the crime has also come to fore and investigation is underway, he added.
"The investigation suggested that the relations between the accused and the deceased soured after some time," he added.
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